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22 Mar 2012

MAC Pro Bridal Masterclass & Upcoming New Products

MAC Pro Masterclasses differ from the MAC Techniques classes, which are aimed at Joe Public. Mostly, the masterclasses take the form of a demo; this could be something standard or something highly intricate, and are usually also used to showcase upcoming products, both commercially available and Pro-only. They're available to anyone holding a MAC Pro membership card, so are aimed at industry professionals, and the MAC artists giving the masterclasses are generally very good with their time afterwards for product-specific Q&A.

This particular masterclass was in Bridal, which is apt, given the rapid approach of Wedding Season, and it was given by Lesley Keane, MAC's senior artist in Ireland.

Read on for a breakdown of the looks completed, some tips and some new products on the way!

Lesley did two looks; both very different. The first, in direct response to a request from the previous Masterclass, was a bridal look for a darker skin tone. The model had golden medium-dark skin, around NC45. The second was more of a trend look and featured a very pale caucasian-skinned model, around NC15. The following are the face charts that were roughly followed (adapted from) on the evening:

LINER Fluidline in Blacktrack, only used except to cover the lash root

BROWS Lingering & Fling Brows

MASCARA Zoomlash in Lofty Brown, only to blend the lashes to the strip lash

LASHES #33 strip lashes

LIPSTICK Hug Me

Tips and New Products!

These Masterclasses (besides being lethal for getting you excited about the upcoming new products) are fantastic for tips and reminders - there will always be some new, unknown tip that gives you an "aha!" moment, or some older tip that you'd forgotton... some product-specific, some technique-related. So, here were the tips & product reminders that I took from the class...

I, and everyone else in the room, was very excited to see that MAC will be releasing correctors and concealers in palettes. These are due out around April this year and may only be available from the Pro store (Lesley wasn't 100% sure about this, she did say that they're lobbying to get them into Brown Thomas also). Lesley had three palettes; one paler, one medium and one darker, containing what appeared to be Studio Finish concealers, but perhaps very slightly creamier (Studio Finish concealers can be a little dry to work with). I don't have any photos of these to share, but I was given permission to mention them here, as they're due out soon. I have wanted to get some palette concealers; I have been looking the Bobbi Brown BBU palette but at €200+ it ain't cheap, it's online only and frequently Limited Edition to boot. I have no idea what these MAC palettes will retail for. Yep, I realise I don't have a huge amount of information to share on this other than advising you to look out for them!

Existing Product - Studio Careblend Powders

MAC Studio Careblend Powder

Studio Careblend powders are jet-milled powders available in eight shades from Light to Deep Dark. I've been using these for ages. The finely milled formula gives the skin a cashmere-soft satin, rather than chalky matte, finish. They contain optical diffusers so they help to give a really even appearance to the skin. They have almost the same feel on the skin as some of the HD powders but they don't flashback in photography. I have been using these for ages now, since they were first introduced in the Future Face collection (they're now part of the permanent line). I really can't recommend these highly enough.

Tip - "Athletic" Looking Skin

A big trend at the moment is for "athletic" looking skin; skin that glows and slightly glistens. This can be achieved (on paler skins) with any of the usual highlighters (eg Strobe cream) and on darker skins with SunRush Lustre Drops. Apply the highlighter of choice along the tops of the cheekbones, in a slight elongated egg shape, but back a bit further than usual, and blend out. Apply it also to the bridge of the nose, just at the point underneath the brows, and down very centre of the nose (avoiding the very tip, as this can just look greasy). Finally, also add it to the cupid's bow - this has the effect of also making your upper lip look slightly bigger.

Cool Photography Tip - Using Flashback to your Advantage

No, this wasn't
a Halloween photo

As most people will know, anything with an SPF generally can cause photography "flashback"; when the face looks perfectly normal in normal lighting, but appears white in flash photography. In general, this is down to the inclusion of mechanical/physical SPF ingredients in the product's formulation, like titanium dioxide. Products that contain Silica (like many of the HD powders available) also reflect light back, so a heavy hand with these products can also make you look white in the camera. However, this can be used to your advantage! Judicious application of one of these products just where you'd like to highlight, can give a really beautiful effect in photographs (you won't see it with the naked eye, so you really need to know what you're doing if you're going for this effect, and a little really goes a long way - but it's something you could play around with, at home, if you have time and a flash camera!)

New Product! Sculpting Creams

Again, I don't have a huge amount of information about these, other than that they are due out in April. OK, as an aside, MAC had previously sold sculpting powder duos (and sculpting powders are available in the Pro stores) for contouring (and also highlighting, for the duos). These were unique in that they were more cool/grey-toned than usual bronzers, and therefore better for contouring - after all, a contour shade should mimic a shadow, which is usually grey toned, not warm (golden or red) toned, which a bronzer will give you. Incidentally, contouring (with a light hand) using a warmer tone is tentatively ok - I personally don't like doing it, but if you blend carefully it can look fine - but it won't photograph particularly well under flash photography. Hence the need for a more grey-toned shade for contouring. So, apparently, we're going to see contouring creams being released, which is fantastic. I currently use an Illamasqua Cream Pigment called "Hollow" for contouring, and it's really fabulous (I much prefer cream to powder products in general anyhow) but I'm definitely excited about the new MAC creams due out... watch this space... I will be first in line...

De-potting Tip: MUJI Containers

My new best friend: Muji Travel Pill Boxes

Lesley is a Muji devotée, as am I for more bigger, household items. But she has a plethora of different teeny tiny Muji containers (like this one and this one, that I am most categorically getting, each individual pot snaps on/off) that she uses for de-potting. As anyone with a kit knows, carrying around ten different concealers each in Studio Fix, and Pro Longwear, and Select Moisturecover is a pain in the proverbial, and takes up a lot of space. So being able to "palette-ize" anything is a real plus. I've recently used some empty Makeup Forever and Japonesque palettes for lipsticks, but you know what, the Muji ones are SO much cheaper... I will be purchasing these in future!) Muji also does a bunch of other useful travel- or kit- friendly gear, like these stacking pots, this empty atomiser spray, these really handy spray bottles, and these tools, handy for filing smaller bottles from larger ones, to mention just a few items!

That's it - there's another upcoming masterclass as part of the MAC Pro spring schedule due soon... I will post any relevant information after that one too! In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for those sculpting creams and palette concealers...